The Sweet Killer?? You must be wondering how can a killer be sweet? One of the most important part of our daily food is sugar. Dear readers Sugar is the ‘Sweet Silent Killer’. Sugar is responsible for many of the biggest health crises of the world. Sugar single handedly cause numerous unhealthy effects on our body.
Let's start with a funny but horrible finding of a research lead by a group of French scientists. They reported that rats chose sugar over cocaine (even when they were addicted to cocaine). Sugar has properties that create addiction. Sugar promotes craving. The more sugar you eat, the more you want it. So, are you a sugar addict?
Let's not just blame white and brown sugar. All sugar forms do almost the same amount of damage.
Corn Syrup, Maple Syrup, Fructose Sweetener, Liquid Fructose, Honey, Molasses, Anhydrous, Dextrose, Crystal Dextrose, Dextrin, Invert Sugar, Sucrose, Laevulose
The marketers of products try to fool you with these chemical names instead of writing sugar directly. For instance, an average can of cola contains more than 12 teaspoons of sugar. So be a label detective to find what you are eating or drinking!!
Table sugar, Cola, chocolates, ketchup, sauce, cakes, and biscuits are a common source of sugars in our diet.
So we have established Sugar is bad!! Now you are thinking Why is sugar bad?
So, let's take a look at the effects of sugar in our body:
- Sugar increases bad cholesterol, reduces the good cholesterol (HDL), and thus increases the risk of stroke and cardiovascular diseases.
- Sugar acts directly in weight gaining as it consists pure calorie that turns to fat later. It is one of the most important causes of childhood obesity.
- Sugar can cause malnutrition, as it is known as empty calorie because it has no other nutritional value. It misses the essential nutrients and due to its complex chemical property, hampers absorption of other nutritional factors.
- Sugar is responsible for the disease called “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder” mostly in children and some adults. These patients become impatient distracted easily, loses focus, temperamental, find it difficult to get along with other kids and other psychological symptoms.
- Sugar is the leading cause of tooth decay. Sugar rich foods create an acidic medium with the help of bacteria. These bacteria produce plaques with food particles. These plaques destroy the enamel of teeth and form cavities or caries.
- Excess sugar reduces the immunity (fight back power of the body) within 30 minutes of ingestion and lasted for more than 5 hours.
- Sugar brings on type-2 Diabetes.
- Sugar stresses the liver while being metabolized and causes Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
In 1915, the average consumption of sugar by a person per year was 15-20 pounds. Today the average person consumes his/her weight!! The widespread use of sugar is one of the reasons of increased incidents of strokes, cardiac diseases, diabetes, and many other leading diseases of the world today.
An average adult person should not get more than 7 to 10 teaspoons of sugar per day and for children it should not be more than 3 to 7 teaspoons. The amount can vary according to size and physical activity.
It is almost impossible to remove sugar off the menu instantly, but like any other addiction, it can be controlled too. Some useful steps can be-
- Make your dessert fruit based. Yogurts (without added sugar) with fruits can be a good dessert
- Stick to water, limit beverages
- Encourage your kid to eat protein and fibre along with the sweet treats (nuts, beans, lean meat)
- Explain the demerits of sugar to them
Food for thought!
Stay Healthy!